It's enough to turn you off people

It has happened again.  Our house sitter has cancelled on us.  She rang on Friday morning to say she has a job interview on Tuesday in a large city a few hours south of here and if she was offered the job it would be a great opportunity for her, etc., will it cause you much inconvenience etc.  I replied "yes, it will......it leaves us in quite a hole".  I don't think she wanted to hear that, but I don't care - it's true.  I am fed up with people.  This is the third sitter to cancel on us in barely two years so I don't think we will bother using the system again.  We have had some lovely house sitters, one dud (the last one), but three cancellations is just too many.

Kevin was all for cutting our holiday short but I said no.  I have been looking forward to visiting Victoria again for a long time, we have made tentative plans and cancelled them before, and this time I want to go through with it.  We are going.

We ran round chasing our tails on Friday to organise what needs to be done.  Fortunately Bianca has been booked into Deb's cattery, she has been before - we were so very lucky that Deb had a vacancy for the time we need.  It's money we hadn't planned on spending, but it won't break the bank.  We also have a gardener popping in a couple of times a week to check on our garden, especially the newly planted section - poor plants, they are really struggling in the current hot dry weather - more money.  Our neighbours are lovely people but they have their own homes, families and gardens to look after, we don't want to put a burden on them, and anyway the young couple in No 70 have a new baby due to hatch any day now......it's already a week overdue!  Luckily a 'hold mail' form had already been lodged with the post office so we don't have to worry about that.

So on Wednesday morning we will hitch up our little caravan, hop in the car and take off.

That's Kevin enjoying doing nothing behind our little van.  It's just the right size - 12 feet long - for the two of us, some clothes and food......and two ukes.  Yes, they're both coming with me!

Who needs a huge behemoth to tow when you can have compact and cosy, and cheap?  We're sure the owners of bigger vans look at ours and laugh, but then we drive past them filling up with enormous amounts of expensive fuel and we laugh ourselves silly.  Nearly every time we take the van somewhere we are approached by at least one person asking if we want to sell, and our answer is always no.

We'll be driving to Canberra  first, spending our time volunteering before and during the folk festival,  enjoying lots of great music (and of course, for me, playing and singing) catching up with family before and after the festival, and on Monday April 4 taking off again to drive south to Victoria.  We plan to arrive back here on Tuesday April 19 so this blog will be silent for the duration, but there will hopefully be lots to tell you all about on our return.

My hand is much better, neither it nor my arm have fallen off, so that will something we don't have to worry about while we're away.  The burn on my elbow is healing too, just as well......burns are rather unsightly.  It won't stop me enjoying the festival!

"Keeping step.
In walking together, especially when arm in arm, it is desirable that the two keep step.  Ladies should be particular to adapt their pace, as far as practicable, to that of their escort.  It is easily done."

Every year at the festival we spend a lot of time catching up with friends not seen since the last such event, and it does entail some walking......and much talking and passing-on of news, so it's essential to keep pace.

Enjoy your days!

Quelle bummer......

.......the blister on my right hand had become sore, swollen and red, quite painful to touch, not moving too well......seems the blister from the burnt-off sun spot had become a little infected.  Yesterday I was able to get an urgent appointment at the medical centre and a nice young doctor said, yes, it's infected, probably a good idea to take a course of antibiotics, so the hand and I are taking bright blue capsules for a few days.  So far it hasn't fallen off, it's still attached to my arm, which is a good thing.

Consequently not many stitches have been taken because it's difficult to do much with a painfully sore hand, but at least that applique block did get finished.  Later today there is a hook and eye to be sewn on a new top so it doesn't gape too much across the bosom, but that's not a big chore.

As nothing has been finished or photographed this week we will have a couple of pictures from the Canadian holiday.  I don't wish to bore the socks off you, gentle readers, so will just drop in the odd (hopefully not too odd) photo every now and then.

 My favourite small town in Canada of those I have visited is Goderich.  Since we were there three years earlier these inukshuks have been built on the shore of Lake Huron, probably hundreds of them!

The Town Square (which is really an octagon) now has trees growing again - on our previous visit it was still being repaired after a tornado the year before.  All the trees in the square were broken or completely killed, only a few were undamaged, but now replanted with mature trees it looks really good.

Quite a few books have been read lately, though......reading doesn't hurt my hand......there are sites where one can download free e-books into one's tablet, so one does.  A genre I read a lot is mystery books, I don't mind a bit of blood and gore but I don't like sadism and torture, stories where someone (usually female) is being stalked, too much sex (we know it happens but we don't need it described in graphic detail, we all have imaginations), and I'm not a great fan of paranormal stories although I don't mind a little touch of the supernatural.  Just a little.  Don't overdo it, folks, or it becomes just too unbelievable.  The delete button has been pressed more than once, because I just wasn't getting into the story.

We're getting ourselves organised for our trip - only ten days until we leave!  The festival office co-ordinator has done the roster so we office volunteers know when we're working, and I have also been sent my printable performer's ticket because a friend and I have been assisting at the Sunday morning hymn singing session for so long we're part of the furniture.  It's a very ecumenical session so folk of any, all or no religious persuasions join in every year and we have a blast......no instruments, just unaccompanied voices singing old hymns and gospel songs we've all known and been singing forever.  We've even been recorded for radio more than once, the roving radio bloke couldn't believe that so many people could sing so many harmonies without a guitar or keyboard in sight!

I'm also debating whether to take one or two ukes, our caravan is quite small; one is fine, two might be pushing it for space but I would really love to take two......I know only one can be played at once, but they are pitched differently and and I would like to play the baritone in sessions.  Better make a decision soon.......

"Another way to remove freckles.
One ounce of alcohol; half a dram salts tartar; one dram oil bitter almonds.  Let stand for one day and apply every second day."

Some of these remedies sound very alarming, don't they?  I think cyanide poison comes from bitter almonds.  Perhaps these days I'll just let nature take its course when it comes to freckles.

Enjoy your days!